Deliveryman Two
by Merula
Summary: AU, OOC. Deliveryman continues. More fun with Duo, Heero and the Doctors. 1x2x1 implied. Ended!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimers: Gundam wing is not mine. Usual AU, OOC warnings apply. It really helps if you've read the first Deliveryman. Otherwise some of this will make no sense to you!

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I paced the hospital waiting room back and forth. Damn it! I had told Heero to be careful today! You think by now that he- and Wufei for that matter- would have learned to listen to me! But no. The big bad Preventer had to go out and do his job, apparently forgetting that when I said to be careful it wasn't just because I was worried about him. Damn it! He knew what the docs had done to me better than anyone! Why wouldn't he listen to me?

For Wufei at least that had changed. The shock when he discovered me already waiting at the hospital when the ambulance with Heero in it arrived was priceless. I would've laughed if Heero hadn't been in such bad shape.

"Duo," Trowa was watching me pace with a faint frown on his face. "Would you stop it? You know he's going to be fine." The last sentence had the faintest tinge of a question to it.

"No I don't," I snapped back. "You know I never get anything really clearly. I just knew that he'd be in danger today- like he is nearly every freaking day. I told him to be careful, just like I do every day when he's on his way out the door. So the feeling was a bit stronger this morning. That's it!" Okay, so maybe that's why Heero hadn't taken my warning seriously. He heard it every day. But he was in danger nearly every day! Gods damn it but that boy needed a new job. One that preferably didn't give his lover a daily heart attack.

"You knew when he got shot." Quatre pointed out calmly from where he was perched on the sofa next to Trowa.

"Right before." I grumbled. I had been on a delivery at the time. I wondered briefly what the poor woman in that office building had thought when I had simply tossed the package at her and left at a run. "Stupid docs!" I added. It was a refrain they had all heard before. Ever since I'd had that last meeting with the docs and found out that they'd had a bit too much fun playing around with my genes.

Aw, come on now. You didn't think things ended happily ever after for me after that now did you? Like that would ever happen.

Now, I'm not complaining. After all, Heero did move in with me and that alone should rate at least one 'happily' in and of itself. But we're two very stubborn pig headed my- way- is- the- best- way kind of guys. We don't do sweetness and all that junk.

Well, not very often any ways.

Quatre became my new 'silent partner' in the business, but let's face it. That guy is never silent. Quatre had some very specific stuff in mind for me at times, but since it was in line with what I wanted to do anyway, I didn't complain.

Une on the other hand, told me that I was under no obligation to help the Preventers again- unless I wanted to. I think that thing with the docs really shook her somehow. She got it in her head that she'd been doing the same thing. I didn't think so, but once that lady gets something in her head...

The guys were very careful around me- even Heero. I think that guilt for the whole Zero incident was the motivator behind their new attitudes. For example, Heero and I will start to yell at each other and he just- stops. He'll turn around and walk out of the room. It's not very fun when the person you're fighting with just up and leaves. I have chased him down a few times, if I was mad enough, but he just refuses to fight with me- even verbally.

Considering that the two of us could do some serious damage if we did, it's probably a good thing that he stops us before we get started. I like my house the way it is- standing- and I hope to keep it that way.

Of course, I also like my lover the way that he is- or was. The bullet holes were not something I wanted him to have.

"What's taking so long?' I grumbled, not pausing in my pacing.

"Duo, for the third time," Wufei rolled his eyes "you know what's taking so long. He has three bullets in him. They need to take them out."

I really wished that he wouldn't be so damn logical. I wasn't feeling very reasonable at the moment and his logic was not helping. If he got logical at me one more time, I was going to throw something at him. Maybe that ugly couch for starters. Quatre smiled slightly.

"Fei, why don't you go get us some coffee," he suggested.

"I don't think Duo needs caffeine," Wufei replied casting a dubious look at me. I was tempted to bare my teeth at him, but I nobly refrained.

"Juice then," Trowa got to his feet. "C'mon."

Once they left, Quatre got to his feet and placed himself directly in front of me. I had to stop, since I couldn't run over him. I wanted to go around, but he had crossed both arms over his chest and I'm sure that I've mentioned before that Quatre Winner is not someone to mess with.

"What?" I growled at him. He just graced me with one of his wide-eyed innocent looks.

"Duo, stop and think about it for a moment. Do you think Heero's going to die?"

"No!" I snapped.

"Exactly," he tapped his chest. "Neither do I. He's doing fine."

"Doing fine? He's been shot..." What he was getting at sunk in. "Oh. Good point." I perched on the ugly couch and Quatre sat down next to me.

"Duo, I know this has all been a big adjustment for you," Quatre started.

"What has? Suddenly being psychic? Suddenly being able to toss stuff around? Suddenly..."

"Being in love?" Quatre finished, shutting me up very effectively. I hunched down into the sofa and crossed my arms over my chest. Quatre looked _amused_, damn him.

And I couldn't refute it either, not with Quatre's knowledge of the workings of my heart.

Not that I really wanted to either.

Quatre put a gentle hand on my shoulder, but didn't say anything more, which shows that he really is the smartest out of all of us.

"Family of Heero Yuy?" A doctor stood in the doorway, a clipboard in hand.

"Yes!" I leaped to my feet. The doctor smiled reassuringly at me.

"He's out of surgery and doing very well."

"When can I see him?"

"He'll be out for a while yet. You can go home and we'll call you when he wakes up."

I didn't want to go home. I wanted to stay here until Heero woke up. I frowned at the doctor.

"I'm staying here."

"We gave him some heavy sedatives. I am sure that he won't be waking up for hours yet," the doctor said in a professionally soothing tone.

"Why don't you just go home, shower, change and come back?" Quatre, ever the diplomat, suggested. "We'll take you."

I heard the faint commanding tone underlying Quatre's words and wanted to protest, but I was tired. I could use a shower and a change of clothes and I wouldn't say no to food either.

Trowa and Wufei appeared in the doorway, no cups in sight. Trowa looked pale and Wufei looked agitated.

Something was wrong.

Quatre told the doctor that we would be back and nearly shoved the man out of the room. "What's going on?" I asked when the doctor had left.

"Une called. We have a bit of a- problem." Wufei was looking angrier by the minute.

"What kind of problem?"

"The doctors escaped."

"What?!" How was that possible? The Preventers had tossed them into a maximum-security prison!

But Wufei was still talking:

"Une thinks they might be after you. She wants you taken to a secure location as fast as possible. You are to stay there until the doctors are found."

Until the doctors are found?! That could take days! Weeks!

"I can't leave Heero!"

"Duo," Trowa stepped towards me. "Do you honestly think that Heero would want you here knowing it wasn't safe?"

"Who says he's safe?" I retorted. "And who says that they are any threat at all? Last time weren't they all 'it was for your own good and we want you to be happy'?"

"The docs wanted you last time, not him. You're the experiment. And who knows what they might decide would be for your own good now." Wufei pointed out, being logical again. I would've tossed the sofa at him, but Quatre was in the way.

"I am not going to hide from them!" I protested.

"Duo-" Quatre started.

"No! I am not going to lock myself away. I know them better than any of you. If anything I should be out there looking!"

"And let them catch you again," Wufei growled. I opened my mouth and he waved his hand at me. "Yes, yes, if they are even after you. Still, it's better to be safe than sorry!"

"I'm tougher than I used to be."

"Because of what they did! Who knows what else they did to you? If there's a way to catch you, then they know it!" Wufei pointed out and I put a hand on the sofa.

"And if they do, then we'll be able to find them! Why can't I play bait?"

The three of them gaped at me, horrified. Trowa recovered first.

"There is no way in hell we are going to let you fall back into their hands after last time!" He snapped.

There was a throat cleared by the door. The doctor stood there, an amazed look on his face.

"The patient is awake. He refuses to take any more sedatives until he talks to someone named Duo?"

It shouldn't have surprised any of us. I wasn't the only one the docs experimented with. Heero was J's first test subject. We should've guessed that the sedatives wouldn't affect him the same as everyone else.

"That's me." I grabbed the doctor's arm and dragged him from that room before anyone could think to protest. "How is he doing?"

"Fine. Everything looks good. I just don't understand how he woke up! We used some heavy-duty tranqs on him! And then he broke the syringe when we tried to give him more." The doctor gave me a worried look. "He needs to rest- you'll make sure he does, won't you?"

"Yes," I agreed.

Heero was hooked up to so many things that it was a challenge to get next to the bed without tripping over something. He was lying flat, and his eyes opened immediately when I leaned over him. He didn't look drugged in the slightest. I had to admit the docs were good at what they did.

"Duo- you okay?"

"Better than you," I replied, and after hearing the door close behind the doctor, I brushed my lips along his cheekbone.

"I should've listened to you."

"Yes, you should've," I agreed. His lips twitched in a smile.

"You've been here the whole time?"

"I was here before you got here," I told him flatly. He didn't look surprised. Then again the man has been living with me for over a year. If anyone knew all my little 'quirks', Heero did. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been shot."

"Ha ha." I rolled my eyes at him. "The doctor said you should be resting. I guess they sedated you..." I paused. If the sedatives weren't working then- "Wait- is your pain medication working?"

"Nope," he smiled faintly. I frowned. Heero was good at just ignoring pain, as I had seen him demonstrate many times before.

"They should give you something else," I made to move away from the bed, but he put out a hand to stop me.

"I'm fine. Really."

"Yeah right." I caught his outstretched hand and put it against my cheek. "You're in a hospital bed with more holes in you than you are supposed to have. I wouldn't call that fine." His fingers caressed my cheek and his smile vanished.

"Something else is wrong. What is it?" He knows me too well.

"Nothing you should be thinking about."

"Tell me or I'll get out of this bed and find out myself."

The damn man would try it- no doubt.

"The docs escaped." I muttered.

"How?!" Heero made to move out of the bed and I held him down.

"Don't you dare!"

"Duo- you've got to go someplace safe! They're going to be after you!" He tried to slide out under my hands. Luckily, at the moment I was stronger than he was. "Damn it! Of all the fucking times! Duo- please! You've got to..."

"Une already ordered it." I tried to soothe him. "Stop trying to get up! All the others are here. I'm perfectly safe! I don't want to leave you yet. Besides, why are you all so sure that they'd be after me?"

"Duo, I don't want to take that chance." His hand caressed my face again. "I'll be fine. Please go- okay?"

I wanted to protest, but his very real fear stopped me. Heero didn't need an argument right now, no matter how well he thought he was doing.

"Okay," I agreed, wanting to see the worry leave his face. "But you have to promise me that you'll rest."

"I will. You know it won't take me long to heal," he smiled again, "and then I'll join you okay? We'll hunt them down ourselves if we have to." His smile turned slightly vicious.

"That sounds good to me."

"Duo- you need to get going. Who knows what they've planned. The faster you're safe, the happier I'll be. Please?"

I didn't want to leave him yet, but I knew that Heero was nothing if not persistent. He wouldn't rest until I left.

"All right." I bent down and kissed him gently. "Take care-please! I'll send messages with the guys."

"I will. Stay safe." I let go of his hand and carefully backed away from the bed. I turned at the door to look at him one last time. He raised his hand to me in a 'go on' gesture.

There were three worried looking ex-pilots waiting for me on the other side of the door, obviously prepared to drag me away by force if necessary.

I raised my hands in the air. "I'm going, I'm going!"

It was almost funny how fast they had me stuffed in a car and headed out to one of the Preventers' safe houses.

The other three spent most of the ride going over strategies on how to find the docs and how to keep me safe. I listened with half an ear. Something felt- odd.

We'd been driving for over half an hour when my patience began to wear thin. How far away were they taking me anyhow? Quatre noticed my agitation.

"Don't worry Duo. We'll find them. And as soon as Heero can be moved, we'll have him join you." Quatre reassured me after a while.

My fickle gift chose that moment to kick in stronger than I have ever felt it.

HEERO! DANGER! DEATH! HEERO!

I don't know what all I did, but I know it involved yelling something and lunging for Trowa, who had the bad luck to be driving at that time.

We were headed back to the hospital at lightening speed before I managed to catch my breath. My gift was still filling me with panic. Something very bad was/might/would happen to Heero. I realized that Wufei had me in a tight grip, nearly pinning me down in my seat. I could've broken it easily, but instead I let him hold me down. We'd be at the hospital soon. We'd be in time to prevent it- I hoped.

What was it? He had seemed okay! Better than okay!

We reached the hospital after what seemed an eternity and I threw Fei off, heading into the building at a run.

I'm sure I must've pushed some poor personnel over in my haste, but all I knew was that I needed to get to Heero _right now_!

I flung open the ICU door and ran down the hallway to Heero's room.

His bed was empty. The machines were disconnected, the alarms turned off. The indentation of his body was still in the mattress.

Where was he?!

In my pocket, my cell phone began to ring.

I reached in and automatically answered it, my senses still screaming at me. The voice on the other end was very familiar.

"Duo, m'boy. I do hope you don't mind, but we thought Heero would benefit from our care after his unfortunate accident."

Oh no. No no no...

"G." I took a deep breath, closing my eyes to block out the sight of that empty bed. "What have you done with him?"

"He's in good hands, don't you worry. We just had all that time to think while enjoying the excellent hospitality of your Preventer friends... and J did a lot of thinking about his project."

"Heero's not a project," I protested.

"I'm afraid he is, dear boy." G chuckled.

"But J said- when we saw you in the holding facility..."

"Ah yes, touching wasn't it? That whole Heero needs to act selfishly thing? I do think J actually believed it himself at the time, if it's any consolation." G chuckled again. "I am sorry, dear boy, but there is a new world order coming, and J wants his soldier ready for it."

"You can have me, just..."

"Oh, but see, we don't want you- at least not yet. We are not going to give up our bird in the hand for the one in the bush. As nice as it would be to have you both, we are not going to push our luck. Talk to you later, dear boy."

"No-" I started, but the line was already dead. He had hung up on me. I felt the hot sting of frustrated tears begin to build up. I should never have left the hospital!

I opened my eyes to find Quatre in front of me, his expression making it clear that he had heard at least part of the conversation.

"We'll find him, Duo." Quatre put a hand on my shoulder. "Wufei is already starting to try and run a trace on that call. Trowa is questioning the staff and getting the security tapes. Une, Noin and Sally are on their way. We'll get him back, I swear it to you."

"He's in danger," I told Quatre, the words spilling out. "I can feel it still. Worse than the shooting. They might kill him..."

I saw something dark flicker in Quatre's eyes. "They won't kill him as long as he's useful."

"They might not mean to..."

"Duo, as long as you are feeling that sense of danger, then he's still alive. We won't worry about it until it stops. We have to focus on finding Heero before that happens. Okay?"

He moved his hand down to my elbow. "Come on Shinigami. We have work to do."

I felt my own darkness start to rise up, the persona that I had needed during the war to get the tasks done. I resisted it for a moment.

"Quatre- are you feeling anything?" I saw the slight tightening of his features; saw that he was thinking about lying to me, and then his decision:

"Pain." He said briefly. "Terrible pain..."


	2. Still Missing

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of it's characters. I wish!

Sorry for the delay. I thought I had already posted this part!

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We couldn't find him.

We analyzed the security recordings from the hospital- they had obviously been messed with since in one shot Heero was there and in the next he was gone.

We questioned the hospital personnel. No one knew anything. Somehow no one had been near Heero's room when he'd vanished.

We figured that the docs had to have had outside help. There was no way that they could've made Heero vanish so quickly after their own escape. We investigated every pro-war, pro-military, pro-colony, pro-earth group that we could discover, trying to find a link.

Nothing. No trace, no lead, no Heero.

And that same feeling, day after day, that he was in terrible danger. My dreams were filled with images of Heero screaming, begging for me to help him and I could do nothing.

I didn't sleep much.

Days turned to weeks. Quatre had some of his people take over my business while I worked with the others to find Heero. Une had turned the case officially over to Wufei, with Trowa and I on as assistants.

My cell phone never left my pocket. I jumped every time it rang. I knew I was beginning to worry the others, but I didn't give a damn. So what if I couldn't sleep? So what if I could barely eat? How could I take the time to do those things when Heero was in those sadistic bastards' clutches?

Then, one afternoon, things finally fell into place. I almost wished they hadn't.

I was at my computer, running through all the companies that had the capability to produce a gundam. It was a faint hope, but we were clutching at straws now. There was a something at the back of my mind that was trying to get my attention, but I didn't want to acknowledge it. Couldn't acknowledge it. It was easier to bury myself in work and pretend that I didn't hear that little voice.

The others were there too, the weekly strategy meeting that I no longer stopped working to pay full attention to. I could listen with one ear and still look for a lead.

"We aren't getting anywhere," Wufei sounded frustrated as Trowa finished wrapping up his report on another dead end.

"It's worse than that," I heard Quatre sigh. "I'm afraid that it's stopped."

What stopped? I wondered, and then realized what he meant. What I had been trying not to acknowledge.

The nagging feeling of Heero in danger was gone.

"I can't feel him anymore," I heard Quatre say. "The pain's stopped. It was always off and on before as it was- but now it's been nearly a week..."

No pain. No danger.

No Heero.

I pushed myself to my feet. I couldn't stay here. Not now.

"Duo?" I heard Wufei's voice call after me as I fled from the room. "Duo!"

I... blanked out. Completely. I don't know what I did. It wasn't until the pain in my side forced me to a halt that I finally stopped and my thought processes started up again.

I didn't recognize where I ended up. A street corner somewhere downtown. I was panting and the sun was considerably lower in the sky than when I had left Preventers HQ.

It might not be bad, I tried to tell myself. Just because Quatre can't feel the pain and I don't sense that he's in danger doesn't mean he's dead.

It doesn't.

And... even if he is, then I won't stop looking. I still need to find the docs. _And make them pay._

There had to be something I missed. Something that I overlooked.

"A new world order..."

I turned around. I was standing in front of a newsstand. The TV on the top was tuned to the Sphere news. Relena was on the screen.

"And so we must forget these disputes between the former nations. I once again move to restart our government, form our new world order..."

New world order. That was what G had said. A new world order was coming. I narrowed my eyes and stared at the screen.

Relena was on a podium, Noin and her brother behind her in their Preventer uniforms watching Relena speak with calm expressions, eyes moving over the crowd. Being good Preventers.

The Preventers always supported Relena.

No. No. I was paranoid. It couldn't be.

But she had used G's exact words.

And there was one military organization that I hadn't looked into, one that had held the doctors, one that had the resources to steal a man out of the hospital, one that had the resources to set the docs up in a lab. One that had access to all of our resources, our case notes, one that would be able to block us at every turn.

One that G might be resentful enough about working for that he would drop me a big fat hint.

But why? Why would the Preventers betray one of their own?

There was only one place to find that out.

"I need to see Commander Une now," I said to her flustered desk clerk.

"The commander is busy." He said snottily. "If you want to see her, you will have to fill out form 12-A and make an appointment..."

"I don't think you understand me." I pulled out my gun and aimed it at the clerk. "I said I need to see Une _now_." He paled.

"Maxwell," Une's voice was like a whip crack. I didn't move the gun away from her poor minion's head; I just turned slightly so I could see her. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Investigating a lead." I replied.

"You don't have any," she said, and I heard the faint quaver in her voice.

"Amazing how you already know that, isn't it, Lady?"

"I'm Chang and Yuy's superior, I've been keeping a close eye on..."

"Have you now? How close an eye Lady? Close enough to block our moves? Keep us from discovering the truth?" I saw the sheen of sweat on her lip. Une had once been able to lie through her teeth, but she was as nervous as all hell about something and it showed.

"Quit the game, Maxwell. Tell me what it is you want."

"I want you to tell me about Relena's New World Order." Her eyes went wide and I knew I had hit the mark.

"It's in all the papers..Relena is moving to centralize all power in the sphere. It's what the world needs. There are still too many petty arguments between the former nations. They are still struggling for power; still want what's best only for their part of the Sphere. Relena wants to change the government structure so that all former nations will act for the common good."

Okay, this I could understand. After the fall of Romefeller the government had been in complete chaos. It was supposed to be one government for the whole sphere, but that is not exactly what happened. Each country still had it's own government and each one of those still struggled for power. Relena's idea to try and centralize it all was a good one, but she had to be facing strong opposition. And if that was the case...

"I'm sure there are some places that are not cooperating."

"Of course, but we'll convince them eventually."

"How? By sending the Perfect Soldier in to either assassinate the instigators or maybe just to cause enough chaos that the people demand the new world order?" That didn't sound right though. Relena was a pacifist...

But- I heard the deep breath Une took. Saw her eyes dart to the side and back. She opened her mouth to reply and the phone in her office started to ring. I knew what that phone was- Une's private line.

Before she could move, I was past her and lifting the receiver.

"Une! What have you done about our problem?" The voice on the other end demanded and I grinned.

Bingo.

"Hello Dr. J. Perhaps I can be of assistance?"


	3. Getting to L2

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

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"Hello Dr. J. Perhaps I can be of assistance?"

The bastard didn't even sound surprised.

"02. Une finally tell you that we needed your help?"

Need my help? Was he nuts?

"No. The good lady didn't mention anything of the sort."

I heard him snort on the other end.

"She hasn't told you anything? Don't answer. I can imagine. She has been most unhelpful. Said that we already had her best agent and she wasn't going to turn another friend over to us." His tone said clearly what he thought of that weakness.

For a moment I was less upset with Une. Then I remembered that she had turned one of her friends over to them.

"Well, then. What do you need my help with?" I'd be more than happy to rip your throat out I thought to myself, and your limbs off as well. Just for the sheer pleasure of it.

"To be precise- we need you. There's a problem with 01. We're hoping you'll be able to help us out."

A problem with Heero? What had those bastards done? The rage that I had managed to force down rose back up.

"What kind of problem?"

"We'll explain when you get here."

This sounded like a big old trap. Did they think I was that stupid?

"No. You tell me now. Or I'm not going anywhere."

"And if you don't then you won't see your lover again."

Damn it. Needed to think here. I throttled my rage down. This may be a trap- no more than likely was one. But if I didn't walk into it what were the chances of seeing Heero again? Pretty good, since I thought I could twist Une into telling me what I needed to know.

But pretty good odds weren't good enough.

And there was the whole 'problem with Heero'.

Shit.

"Very well. What do you need me to do?"

"Good. There's a shuttle leaving in half an hour to L2 from spaceport one. Be on it." He hung up.

I slammed the phone down and looked towards the trembling lady. "Well, now. Hasn't this been illuminating?"

"Duo-" She started hesitantly. I waved the gun at her.

"Shut up." I pulled my phone out of my pocket with my free hand and hit the auto dial.

"Winner."

"It's me."

"Duo? Where-"

"Not now! I need you up here in Une's office. She's been playing us."

"Wha-" I practically heard the click. "Damn it! We'll be right there."

The other three arrived seconds later. Wufei looked explosive. It relieved me. He was the full-time Preventer. I didn't think he'd betray us... but all the same it was good to see that he looked as angry as I felt.

Une had collapsed. She was seated on her desk, slumped over. She'd be easy pickings for Quatre.

"Fill us in," Quatre said tensely.

"I don't know much. G hinted about the coming of a new world order when he called me. I saw Relena giving a speech in which she used the phrase, put two and two together, and came up here just in time to answer a phone call from J." I looked at the clock. "He wants me to get to L2 right away and help them."

"Help them?" Trowa repeated.

"They did something to Heero. I have to be on the next shuttle..."

"I'll go with you." Trowa looked at Quatre.

"Right. Go with him." Quatre reached for his cell. "I'll call Rashid. We will deal with things here. Call me when you get to l2 and we'll brief you on what we found out." He turned and looked at Une. "I'm sure the Lady here will be most helpful. _Won't you?_"

I'm sure I've mentioned before how scary Quatre can be? Not to mention the beyond pissed Wufei standing next to him, looking as though he wanted to cut someone up into tiny pieces? Knowing they had this front covered, Trowa and I left for the shuttle port.

Trowa and I didn't speak much as we headed for L2. What was there to say? We had been betrayed by an organization we trusted. It wasn't the first time that it had happened; after all, our colonies had done the same.

O met us at the gate when we got off the shuttle. He frowned at Trowa, but didn't say anything other than: "please follow me."

What else could Tro and I do? We followed him. Though I noticed that Trowa's hand was never too far from where I knew he had one of his knives hidden. My gun was tucked securely in its hidden pocket, ready for whatever came.

Was it so bad to hope that I'd get to use it on someone soon?

O led us to one of the private shuttle bays. "Here is your ship. The coordinates you need are programmed in. Once you have launched J will contact you and let you know what you need to do."

"Wait a sec. We're supposed to go off in some spaceship that you guys more than likely did some tinkering with? And you won't tell us what for until we're on board? I don't think so." I yanked the gun put of my pocket and pointed it at him. "I want some more information before I get on that ship."

"I agree," Trowa said quietly.

"Very well." O reached into a pocket and pulled out a small recorder. He tossed it to me. "Listen and see if that convinces you."

I hit the playback button.

A minute later the recording ended. Trowa had turned pale. I could feel myself shaking. O looked smug. I took a step forward and punched him right across the face, knocking him backwards.

"You fucking bastard!"

"This isn't helping 01," O managed as he wiped the blood off of his mouth and I snarled.

"No, but it's making me feel better. Maybe I should see if I can make you scream as loud as Heero was in that damn recording!" Trowa's hand landed on my shoulder.

"Heero first," he said quietly.

"Heero first," I agreed. "Then I'm going to kill them all."

Trowa didn't disagree with me. I stared at O. I didn't want to leave him here. Should I drag him aboard with us?

"Hey kid!" A familiar voice hailed me from out of the shadows by the hangar door. "Need some help?"

"Howard?" I called back incredulously.

"It's me." Maybe somebody up there loves me after all. Thank gods. Howard materialized out of the shadows by the doorway, several large Sweepers behind him. One of them was carrying a crate. "Winner called and said the two of you might need some back up- and some toys. He told us the flight you were on and we just had our boys at security watch you on the screens when you got here."

If Quatre had been in front of me, I would've kissed him.

"Howard- you rock. Don't suppose you have a scanner in the toy box?"

"Course I do." Howard gestured one of the Sweepers forward. "Want Jim here to do a sweep of the ship for ya?" Jim was already pulling a scanner out.

"Yes. Quickly please. I don't want to be surprised. If you could take care of the doc too..."

"Oh, that'd be my pleasure." Howard smirked. "Sam and Jack here are part timers with the security force on L2."

O looked stunned, as two of the Sweepers Howard had brought tugged him away. Jim hopped aboard the ship.

"Thanks Howard," I told Howard as I put my gun away.

"Thank Winner. He was the one that got all this pulled together. I guess there's a major upheaval going on down below. It's already hitting the newswires. Preventers letting one of their agents fall into enemy hands and all that."

I turned to Trowa, still standing beside me. "I love Quatre."

"Hands off, Maxwell, he's mine."

"Ship is clear!" Jim walked down the steps.

"Take the crate boys." Howard gestured. "You'll need what's inside. I'm having some ships made ready to follow- but it might take a bit more time. We'll monitor you and be there to back you up as quickly as we can. Get going."

Trowa and I grabbed a hold of the crate and boarded the ship. I sat down in the pilot's seat as Trowa secured the crate. The coordinates were in the computer as promised.

We headed out, feeling a bit more secure than we had a few hours ago. I focused on the controls in front of me, the memory of Heero's recorded screams echoing in my ears. I'll be there soon, I promised him silently. Hold on til I get there.


	4. Talking with J

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

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The autopilot took over and I looked at Trowa. "It will be a few hours until we get there."

"I sent the coordinates off to Abdul." He looked up from the keyboard of the laptop that had been in the toy box. "He's going to see exactly where it is we're headed to."

"Well, if we're lucky, J will actually tell us when we get our mission briefing." I frowned at the console. "I'm hoping he contacts us soon. I'd like to know what the hell is going on."

As if the damn bastard had been waiting for me to say something, the incoming transmission light flicked on. I hit the button and was rewarded with a picture of J's frown.

"You're off schedule."

"Wasn't aware we had one, Doc."

"O was to get you on board the shuttle right away."

"We had a few delays." I snapped. "So, feel like filling us in now? We heard your little recording."

J took a deep breath. "Very well. I am sure you know about Vice Minister Peacecraft's New World Order?"

"Only that she's trying to start one."

"Well you'll need to know more than that."

"Enlighten me."

"There has been some- resistance to the joining of the Earth Sphere. When Romefeller was in charge it was a join or be forced to join situation. No one was stupid enough to say no. But Peacecraft's pacifism policy allowed some nations to- balk."

"Imagine that."

"Giving up power is never easy- as the Minister is discovering. The current government just let them go- decided that it was easier to let things slide back to the way they were."

"And that's not good?"

"No. If the nations start acting independently then the chance of war increases. Not something that Peacecraft wants to happen. So, she started this New World Order scenario, where each nation can retain its sovereignty, but the ultimate authority in every county is the NWO council." J snorted. "And made belonging an option."

"So some nations said no."

"Exactly. Though, the nations that belong get first crack at the resources that the NWO controls. Many nations saw belonging as a good thing- it improved their conditions. The minister thinks that others will join when they see that it will benefit them."

"And that will be?"

"There are those among the Minister's advisors who don't think just waiting for a crisis to strike these countries is enough. They think if they force the issue, then the nations will leap to join. If terrorists start attacking for example..."

"This is where Heero comes in?"

"Yes."

"You do realize that he is only one guy? One terrorist alone can not bring a country to its knees."

"You think not? What if that one terrorist is a super-soldier? Engineered for war? Trained to do maximum damage? Not needing to eat or sleep? Only focused on the job and uncaring of anything or anyone else?"

I was feeling sick now.

"That sounds like a mobile doll." I managed.

"Ah, but the suits are outlawed now- for the moment. We have to make do with the materials at hand." I closed my eyes before I sent a fist through the screen.

"Just tell me what you did to him."

"The experiment failed."

"How?" that was Trowa. I was glad he had spoken up. My imagination was doing a fine job of thinking up all the ways that an experiment could've gone wrong. None of them were good.

"Well, we managed the extra strength easily enough- just boosted what he already had. We made a few more modifications to his body. He was already a trained terrorist. We just had to figure out how to make him..." J paused. "More focused. Less... human."

"And?"

"We gave him a combination of drugs. They should've made him more aggressive, yet dependent on orders." He stopped again. "Think of a trained guard dog. They are aggressive, destructive and smart, yet they will heed their master."

I gritted my teeth together. Heero was not an animal. I opened my eyes and glared at the screen. J ignored me.

"They backfired."

"How?"

"We think they drove him insane." J shook his head regretfully. "He became violent. He managed to break free in the lab and attacked everyone in sight. Killed G."

Somehow, I didn't feel very sorry for my doc.

"We had to abandon the satellite. We made him resistant to most drugs- there was no way to tranq him or gas the station."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"We are hoping he recognizes you. If he doesn't- then he is truly uncontrollable and we'll have to blow the station."

"You want me to capture him for you? And then what- turn him back over so you can fix your little mistakes?"

"You want to leave him like he is now? More animal than human? Insane? Violent?"

"He'd be better off dead than back in your hands!" J smiled.

"Ah, we were hoping you'd consent to that. So you will kill him if he's beyond saving?" J sounded pleased.

"WHAT?!" My hands tightened on my chair and I heard a sharp crack as the armrests broke into fragments. I glared at the screen. "I'm not going to kill Heero!"

"You might not have a choice. It might be a kill or be killed situation. If he attacks you, you won't defend yourself?"

I snarled at him.

"Dr. J," Trowa's calm voice deterred me from tossing a piece of my chair at the bastard's smug face. "Enough with the little games please. We need to know what to expect if you plan for us to salvage anything from this experiment of yours. I assume you have details of the satellite? Some more concrete information of what we can expect Heero to do?"

"I will transmit a blueprint of the satellite. It was designed as a playground for the rich. A campground type of area. We had to bring in our equipment. Heero destroyed all of the cameras and other surveillance devices that he could reach. This is one of the only ones left.

The screen changed. I was looking at a freaking jungle from above- a ceiling mounted camera obviously. We were supposed to track Heero in that? I couldn't even see the ground! Damn rich people and their whims, and damn the idiots who choose this place.

"Duo is going to have to go by himself. We are hoping that Heero will remember enough about him not to hurt him. You have been an enemy, or at least posed as one, 03. If Heero only remembers that- your life will be in danger."

I saw Trowa frown and I shook my head at him.

"We'll need you here, ready to leave," I told him quietly.

"We are hoping that your... enhancements will help you with this hunt, 02. Don't hesitate to use them. Heero is very hard to hurt now."

"Understood," I managed.

"We will be monitoring your progress. Good luck, 02." Dr. J ended the transmission. A moment later the blueprints of the satellite flashed on the screen.

"Gotcha bastard," Trowa muttered.

"Huh?'

"Traced his call."

"Didn't he bounce it?"

"Yep, off 5 satellites, 3 with scramblers. But he was on too long."

"And you still found him?"

Trowa looked at me.

"Forget I asked. What now?"

"I sent the information to Quatre. He and Wufei will deal with it. We need to get a plan in place for us. What else is in that box Howard sent?"


	5. Free Falling

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

And for those of you that always say that I like to leave a cliffhanger, here's a real one for you…

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Trowa handed me the headset as I finished fastening the tracer to my collar.

"I'll stay in contact with you all the way," he said and I knew I had to look as bad as I felt. Trowa didn't offer consolation lightly.

"Okay," I told him as I slipped the headset on. I adjusted the camera lens over my eye, so that Trowa could see what I saw as I walked through the satellite.

Then he handed me my gun. I looked at it for a moment and then met his eyes. I really didn't want to put it back on again.

"You might have to disable him Duo. You can do it. You have before."

"It didn't work well," I muttered, but I put the gun in its holster. "Wish tranqs worked."

Trowa smiled. "Hopefully _you'll_ work. I don't have to tell you how much I'm hoping Heero remembers how much he loves you."

I hoped so too. The only deity I prayed to though would no doubt find it amusing if he didn't, so I didn't bother praying for help.

"All right," I stood in front of the hatch. "Be ready. I'll get out there as fast as I can. Close the door right away."

"I know." Trowa took up his position, his headset on as well.

The hatch swung open and I ducked and rolled out, expecting to find Heero at my throat. The hatch slammed shut behind me.

The hallway was empty. I got to my feet carefully and followed it out into the main part of the satellite.

It was weird, to leave that metal hallway and step- well into a jungle. Trowa had told me about these sorts of satellites. Jungles, beaches, forests, snowscapes... playgrounds for the wealthy. As I looked at the dense foliage I sighed. Some people have more money than they know what to do with.

There were scorch marks on the walls that I could see. Looked like Heero had taken out the cameras. The only working ones would be above, and not much bloody use with all of this plant life in the way. The cameras in the jungle would no doubt have been taken out as well.

I looked up. I was sure J was watching... someplace.

I adjusted my headset. Okay. Time to go looking for my insane lover. Where the hell do I start? My sixth sense was telling me that danger was headed my way- but since it had been screaming that at me for hours now, I didn't pay it much attention.

"Duo? How are you doing?" Trowa's calm voice in my ear was soothing.

"It's a jungle in here," I told him and heard him groan. "How the hell do I find him?"

"Well, he's more than likely watching you."

Gee, that was a comforting thought. I scanned the jungle. I didn't see anything that looked like my missing lover.

"I don't see him. Do you?"

"No. Call for him Duo. Let him know it's you."

A mental image of me calling: 'Heeero! Come kill me!' Nearly sent me into a fit of nervous giggles. I took a deep breath and stepped onto the broad curving pathway that led around the perimeter of the jungle and into it as well. A jungle with a jogging track. Weird.

"HEERO!" I lifted my voice. "HEERO? WHERE ARE YOU?" Nothing called back. The place was eerily silent.

"Take the mike away from your mouth," Trowa groaned in my ear.

"Uh, sorry Tro." I walked cautiously along the path and into the trees, trying not to get too far from that hallway that led back to the ship. "Heero?" I called again. "Heero? It's me!"

The thought struck me that Heero himself might be dead.

Then, my sixth sense nudged me and I whirled around.

Heero stood between me and the hallway, right in the center of the path a few yards from where I stood. His head was bent down and I couldn't see his face under the fringe of bangs. He had spandex shorts on- J must love those for some perverted reason- and nothing else.

I wanted to go and fling my arms around him, and it hurt to force myself to stay still.

"Heero." I managed. "Heero, I've come to take you home."

He didn't move.

"Duo..." Trowa's voice was very quiet. But the effect on Heero was immediate. His head snapped up and I took a step back.

He was snarling. I had been expecting the cold soldier face, or even less likely, the warm smile he reserved for me. Not this- not an expression that looked like it belonged on a tiger. Before I even thought about it, my gun was in my hand, pointed at him.

He didn't know me.

"Heero, it's me, Duo." I tried, even as I sighted the gun on his leg. "Duo. Remember? The guy that steals all the covers?" He took a few steps towards me and I backed away further. "Please love, please don't make me hurt you..."

He stopped for a moment, snarl vanishing, and I felt a faint breath of hope. I took several deep breaths, feeling myself shake.

"Keep talking to him," Trowa's voice, lower still hissed in my ear. Heero looked back up at me, and I got a very bad feeling.

MOVE! My precog screamed along my senses. I moved.

Heero sprang at me, hands extended. Thanks to the warning, I only just managed to get out of his way. I was now several feet further along the path, farther from the safety of the ship.

He stalked towards me, death on his face and I shuddered. This was not my Heero. This was nothing more than an animal.

What had the doctors done to him? I remembered the recorded screams, Quatre's voice telling me that Heero was in terrible pain...

And I couldn't shoot him.

I turned and ran. Trowa was cursing in my ear, but I ignored him. Running was more important.

I ran until my lungs burned and yet, I could always hear him on my trail, not far behind. Bastard wasn't even breathing heavily.

I lost the headset and camera along the way. Trowa was no doubt looking at a tree stump somewhere. I knew he'd have tapped into the remaining cameras, but he couldn't do anything to help me.

Not like he could've before. Though I missed the sound of his voice in my ear. Even if the last words I had heard were: "Duo, damn it, disable him!"

Suddenly I burst out of the foliage and found myself standing by a river, right as it tumbled over a cliff. The view would've been perfect, except for the whole homicidal lover trying to kill me thing.

I had nowhere to go. The cliff was steep- damn the builders! and narrow.

Heero appeared out of the brush. He saw me and bared his teeth, growling low in his throat.

Shit.

I heard the hum of a camera and looked upwards at the ones hanging from the dome- out of my reach. Damn. Well, at least I was providing the good doctor with some entertainment. Trowa was no doubt tearing his hair out.

Heero was walking towards me slowly- stalking- playing with me. I raised the gun again.

And looked into his eyes.

Couldn't do it. I just- couldn't. I couldn't hurt him. I would rather die. Course- I was sure that's what Heero planned for me.

I tossed the gun over the cliff's edge and then just stood and waited. Heero paused, looking almost- puzzled.

Hope rose up.

"Heero?" I said as softly as I could. "I'm sorry I wasn't here before... I couldn't find you... I didn't realize the Preventers and Dr. J..."

Heero snarled.

Oops. He didn't like those words.

He leapt at me, teeth closing down on my neck, knocking us both over the edge.


	6. Friend or Foe?

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. Thanks to everyone that reviewed! Sorry about the cliffhanger thing, just couldn't resist.

WARNINGS: Language. Duo is very upset in this one.

Please keep in mind that Heero is not in his right mind no matter what it may seem like.

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I clung tight to Heero as we fell, wondering if my life was going to flash in front of my eyes, like everyone says that it does right before you die. Mine didn't. All I felt was pain. Heero's grip on me hurt, his teeth were still scraping my skin, and there was the little matter of the pool of water below us. How deep was it? It was going to hurt like hell when we hit if it was shallow.

Well, I was going to hurt, since I was going to hit it first. Maybe I could cushion the blow for Heero some?

But Heero twisted us slightly in the air, right before we hit the water. We plunged under the surface and it was clear enough for me to see to the bottom. The darn thing was lined in concrete- like a big swimming pool. Oh good lord. I had just freaked out over a rich peoples' cliff diving spot.

I tried to swim for the surface, but Heero had shifted his grip on me and was tugging me across the bottom. My lungs were beginning to hurt from a definite lack of oxygen and though I tried to break free, he wouldn't let go. Maybe he was trying to drown me since the cliff thing didn't work?

It wasn't worth the effort to fight him. I let him pull me through churning water and up towards the surface. We broke through the top, and I gasped for air, getting a big faceful of water at the same time. He had pulled us behind a small waterfall.

Then he was tugging me out of the water, through a carved rock archway and then into a nook lined with benches. Obviously a place for the tourists to hang out. I was still coughing, trying to get a clear breath, when Heero finally let go of me.

Then his hands were at my throat again, and I tensed. He yanked at my shirt, pulling it off and tossing it out towards the waterfall. What was he doing? His hands continued their circuit of my neck, plunging into the base of my braid and then he was behind me, his fingers going down the rest of my braid, undoing it.

I didn't speak. I was afraid of setting him off again. It didn't seem like he was trying to kill me at the moment, so I just stood still and let him do what he wanted. Which apparently was ridding me of the rest of my clothes. Boots, socks and pants followed my shirt; thankfully he let me keep the boxers. I was grateful that our little area seemed to be heated, and trying to not think of why Heero was taking all my clothes off.

I doubted it was for the usual reason.

He circled around me, and once again I was reminded of a large cat. Had I just made it easier for him to eat me or something? Maybe he didn't like the taste of cotton.

He stopped in front of me, and I kept my eyes on his feet. I was not going to set him off again.

"02." Heero's voice was lower than usual, rough and harsh. It was still good to hear it. My heart rate increased a bit. He could still talk. He knew who I was- or at least remembered that I was pilot 02. Course- he should- if the drugs worked the way J had wanted them to in the first place.

"01," I acknowledged. "You remember me?"

"02, Duo Maxwell, Deathscythe pilot, Second Experiment."

Second experiment? Oh, Heero had been the first- and the third apparently. I waited for a moment, but that was apparently all Heero remembered about me.

Then again, that's all a soldier would need to know.

Shit.

"02. This area is secured." Secured? Oops, should've realized that earlier. He was scanning me for bugs. No wonder he went for my throat- he must've seen the tracer. That would explain the clothes thing too. "Your mission?" Of course- to a soldier, that was the important information. Maybe he wasn't as... damaged as J had thought.

I looked up and met the cold blue of his eyes. He'd understand a mission report-- hopefully. "The pilots discovered that the Preventers had double-crossed us and turned 01 over to the doctors. 04 and 05 took over Preventers HQ. 03 and 02 came here to retrieve 01."

"The doctors?" The words were growled. Whatever the docs had done to Heero had mightily pissed him off.

"O is in custody on L2. J's location is unknown, but 04 is tracking him down."

"G?" I blinked. Uh, maybe he didn't remember? What the hell do I say? "G?" He repeated again. I didn't think he was going to wait for me to come up with a gentle, yet missiony way of relaying that information. Ah hell...

"J indicated that 01 terminated G." Heero's expression didn't so much as flicker.

"That information is false."

False? G wasn't dead? Then where the heck was he? God damnit!

I knew better that to trust J! Why the hell had I listened?

"What?! That fucking bastard! He told us that you had flipped out, killed G, and needed to be eliminated!" J was going to die. I'm sure I've mentioned that before? What the hell else had he lied to us about? And where the fuck was G?

"So the mission is to eliminate 01?" That was said with artic chill, which, at that moment, I missed. I was still pissed.

"Fuck no! I came here to get you! You've been gone for weeks! The Preventers blocked us from finding you! It wasn't until I heard Relena talking and realized that G had given me a hint that I realized they were in on it. I went to Une and intercepted a call from J. He'd been trying to get her to send me here and she hadn't wanted to give up another agent." I snorted. "Quatre and Fei are dealing with her. J told me that if I wanted to see you again that I had to come out here. He said I had the best chance of either bringing you back or eliminating you." Uh, shouldn't have said that...

Heero's eyes had narrowed. I knew that look. I had seen it directed at me before.

He was going to kill me.

Damn it. I really need to learn to keep a leash on my mouth. It's just- here was Heero. In front of me. Alive. And acting like I was the enemy. It hurt. I bent my head and looked at my feet again. He was going to kill me now. I had totally broken out of mission mode and had admitted that J had sent me here to kill him- even if I hadn't planned on it. To a Perfect Soldier that was a good reason to kill anyone.

I wasn't too shocked when his warm hands slid around my neck. I just hoped that he was going to snap my neck, and not strangle me. I wanted to die fast. His grip was firm, but not tight, so the odds were in my favor. I sucked in a quick breath. Heero still needed to know some things.

"J intends to destroy the satellite if I fail. Once I'm dead, get off of here- 03 has a shuttle. Don't kill him though- you don't want 04 mad at you and he wasn't supposed to be here at all. You were my mission, he just came along as backup." I rushed the words out fast. Trowa might've already left, after all, but if he still were here, Heero would need his help.

The hands around my neck tightened.

"So, you are going to let me kill you?"

"Better than me killing you." I closed my eyes.

"Why?" His voice was still flat. The soldier looking for answers. "Contain or destroy was your mission."

"Finding you was my mission. I wanted you back with me. I only played along with the docs to get you back. I wasn't working for them." I opened my eyes and glared at him.

"Yet you came here on their command."

"To get you back!"

"You've worked for them before."

Okay, that pissed me off.

I reached up and broke Heero's hold on my neck, shoving him backwards. "And you goddamned know why!"

I paused, my anger overridden for a brief second.

He remembered!

That fucking bastard! I grabbed his arms and slammed him against the wall.

"Are you accusing me of betraying you, Heero? I told you that the Preventers arranged this- Une was the ringleader. I knew nothing about it! And the minute I found out I came after you! I have not betrayed you! I would not _ever_ betray you and you god damn know it!"

"Probability factored your betrayal at 30 percent." Heero's voice was even. "I could not take that risk. You were under their care for so long... they might have had a way to control you." He lifted a hand to my cheek and I saw my Heero for a brief flash. "I'm sorry Duo. I had to be sure..."

I put him down carefully and stepped away.

"The only way they ever have to control me is you." I was about to say more, ask him what the hell was going on- what had happened to him, when I ran out of time.

The floor rocked under our feet.

"Damn it!" I grabbed Heero's wrist and tugged him back out the archway. Luckily there was a small path around the pool, so we didn't have to go back into the water. "J's decided to destroy the satellite!"

Heero waited until we were away from the pool before he took the lead. He pulled me along, hopefully back towards the ship.

I really hoped Trowa hadn't left yet.


	7. Escape

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! Hugs to all of you!

WARNINGS: Language. Again- you haven't heard it before?

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I raced along, thankful that we were in a designer jungle and not a real one. A real one would have been bad news for my bare feet. Not to mention the rest of my bare self.

Had Trowa left yet? If not was there a way off this station? And a place that I could hopefully get some clothes?

As Heero pulled me along, I saw a flash of metal down on the right. The headset!

I scooped it up as we ran and slid it into place.

And got to hear Trowa use words that I have never heard him use before. He sounded as if he had shoved the mike away from his face, soft, but undeniably there as he cursed Quatre out.

"....goddamit Quatre! I can't go! They might have made it! I can hold on until right before this fucking..."

"Trowa, we're almost there," I said into the mike. Trowa obviously got closer to the mike as his next words were much louder.

"DUO! Where the fuck are you?" I thought I saw Heero's step falter.

"We're almost there! Open the door for us and be ready to go!"

"Roger that."

Heero's step _did_ falter. I pulled him along, now, taking the lead again and he followed willingly enough, but as I passed him had I heard a growl?

We were back in the hallway in no time at all. I pushed Heero through the hatch, followed him and slammed the door behind us.

The ship moved beneath my feet as Trowa moved us away from the satellite. I reached out to grab the nearest handhold and then my sixth sense shrilled.

I turned to see Heero, snarling, poised to pounce on the back of an unsuspecting Trowa.

What the hell?

I leaped for Heero, crashing into him, bringing us both down on the floor and sending us rolling across the cabin as the ship accelerated. I pinned him the best I could, knowing that he could throw me off easily.

"What the hell are you doing?" Trowa gave us a quick glance over his shoulder. "Hug him later Duo! I need you!"

Heero's snarl turned to a growl that was audible even to Trowa, who finally noticed the snarling, spitting man I had pinned to the floor.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know! Get us out of here!" Trowa turned back to the controls and I looked down at the man in my arms.

"Heero!" I deliberately put my face in his, blocking his view of Trowa. "Heero! Look at me! What are you doing?"

The growling stopped, but he was still tense, his mouth still twisted. "Heero," I said again, softer. "Heero, stop. It's okay. It's okay. It's pilot 03. One of us. It's Trowa Barton. You know him, 01."

The animal look faded into the perfect soldier. "03's probability of betrayal is 80 percent. He is not to be trusted."

"01, he came here with me to find you. He is working with 02 and 04 and 05 in this case. We trust him. Doesn't that lower his stats?"

I could almost see the calculations whirring.

"40 percent." He said. I went for a different tactic.

"We are in danger. Something is attacking the satellite. We need to cooperate with 03 in order to escape. We need him. Please Heero, listen to me." I kissed his cheek, wondering if he was going to deck me.

He blinked.

"Duo," he said, his voice shaky, and the expression on his face became my Heero's again. "Duo, what am I doing?"

I hugged him then; relieved to feel his body relax against mine. "I don't know. But we'll figure it out. Is it okay to get up? Trowa needs our help."

Heero frowned a little, one hand reaching up to touch the side of his head. "I...don't remember..."

"It's all right," I soothed, reaching out and running my fingers over his temple. "We'll fix you. I don't know what they did to you, but we'll make it right. Even if I have to slice bits off of J until he tells me how to do it."

Actually, I think J needed to lose a few bits- cooperative or not.

"Okay." Heero let me get up, and took my offered hand to rise to his feet. His fingers entwined with mine and I lead him over to the controls. Trowa glanced up at us, confusion and relief in his face.

"Everything okay?"

"For the moment." I sat down in the copilot's chair without thinking. Heero however, simply stood next to me, one hand on the back of my seat.

I almost objected, almost told him to strap himself in, but then again, I wanted him close enough to grab if things went haywire again. The other seats were in the back and too far away to get to him fast if he decided to leap at Trowa again.

"Well, whatever it is that's attacking the satellite is on the other side of it. I don't think it noticed us- yet." Trowa scanned the various readouts as I pulled mine up.

"What is it?"

"No idea. But I want us away from that place soon. Its readings are getting highly unstable." Trowa increased our speed.

Just in time too. Noise doesn't travel in space, but light does. The wave of light as the satellite blew up washed over us. We had to do some maneuvering in order to dodge a few pieces, but we managed it.

Heero stayed right by me, not moving, not speaking. I glanced at him a few times, but his expression was worried and focused, not animalistically angry or perfect soldier cold, so I was able to focus on my part.

Trowa had pulled his headphones back on and was conducting a conversation with Quatre about our location when I saw the familiar shape on my screens.

"Oh shit."

Trowa looked over at me and I increased magnification. Rising from behind the destruction of the station and heading for us were some very familiar and unwelcome shapes.

"Those aren't what I think they are, are they?" I asked.

"Mobile dolls," Heero confirmed, his voice cold once more. "The doctors have been building them."


	8. Eye of the Storm

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not ours.

Thanks and hugs to everyone that reviewed!

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"Great, mobile dolls, and we only have a shuttle. We're toast." I swore as the blips on the screen showed them moving closer to us.

Trowa had one hand on his headset and was rattling off coordinates into the microphone. Did he have an ace in the hole?

Or was he telling Quatre where they'd find our space dust?

Heero leaned over my shoulder and pointed to the radar. "Another group of suits is approaching from below."

I increased our speed with a sinking heart. Trowa finished his coordinates and turned to look at me. There was a smile on his face and I wondered if he had snapped.

If I was the only totally sane person in this shuttle, we were in trouble.

"Relax." Trowa told me. I stared at him. Maybe I was the only sane person here...

"Relax? We've got two groups of mobile dolls after us!"

"No we don't." Trowa smirked. "Quatre told you he was sending some back up. Lucky for us they were almost here. Look."

He popped up another screen and showed us a close up of the suits that were approaching from below.

"The Maguanac corps!" I took in a deep breath as I recognized the suits. "But, how?"

"Quatre didn't think it would be wise to get rid of all the mobile suits after the last war. He took the Maguanac suits and a few others and hid them away on a resource satellite. Lucky for us they weren't too far away. Rashid left almost right after we did and went and got them. Quatre was hoping to use them as a threat of force against the doctors."

"Quatre saved the suits? But he was all for destroying them!"

"No, he was for destroying the Gundams." Trowa corrected me. "And even then, after we discovered what the doctors were doing with you, he realized that we might need some sort of..." Trowa paused.

"Army." Heero said flatly as the Maguanacs reached the mobile dolls and began slicing them to ribbons.

Wait. How the hell? "Those suits are superior to the old Maguanac Corp suits..." I started, then stopped, not sure if I was accusing or admiring.

"We made some modifications." Trowa replied. "To think that we could just keep the old ones and not upgrade them would be foolish."

"Agreed." Heero nodded.

The Magunacs made very short work of the mobile dolls. Apparently Quatre's tech was superior to the doctors. That was comforting- in a way.

I wasn't sure what to think. On one hand, I could not deny that discovering that Quatre had his own private army of suits was disturbing- to put it mildly.

On the other, we faced not only the doctors, but also whoever was controlling them. Whoever was a part of Relena's New World Order. Having a friend with his own private army would be very useful.

The last mobile doll destroyed, the suits moved to group around our shuttle.

"Quatre wants us to meet him at the satellite. He and Wufei are on their way there. He has discovered the probable location of J's transmissions and quite a few other things." Trowa fed the coordinates into the computer and we changed course. "It's not too far away. We should be there in a couple of hours."

"You could just brief us now," I told him.

"No, that's all he told me too. He said he wanted us to focus on reaching him first before he filled us in." Trowa smiled wryly. "Apparently we're going to be very angry."

"Great," I sighed and leaned back in my seat, exhaustion clouding my senses as the adrenalin finally began to wear off. "Not like I'm not already..."

I yawned. Heero leaned over my seat.

"You are exhausted," he said, still in that perfect soldier tone.

"Can't imagine why," I countered.

"Sleep Duo," Trowa advised. "You need it." I turned and looked at him, raising one eyebrow as I cocked my head a slight bit at Heero. _Not safe._

Trowa shook his head slightly. _It's fine._

I hoped he was right. Weeks of little sleep and the past hours had completely done me in. I reached back and tugged on Heero. "You need to rest too," I told him, hoping that if he went and strapped himself in, Trowa would have some kind of warning. "Find a comfortable place and sleep too, okay?"

Heero simply moved around the seat and dropped to the floor in front of me, wedging himself between the control panel and me, leaning against my legs, his head on my knee. It was uncomfortably like having a faithful guard dog sitting at my feet. Why couldn't he use a chair?

However, hopefully I'd feel it if he moved. Maybe that's why he sat there.

I was asleep moments later.

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I awoke to find that all was well. I half feared to find that Heero had done something bad while I was sleeping, but he was still leaning against my knees.

Trowa looked over at me as I sat up and stretched. "Good timing," he said. "I was trying to figure out how to wake you. We're here."

The shuttle was approaching what looked like a highly dilapidated old resource satellite. Trowa took us into one of the docking ports as our suit escorts vanished below the satellite.

As we exited the ship, some of the Maguanacs were waiting. Master Quatre was not here yet, but he wanted us to relax while we waited they told us. Trowa nodded and headed off in one direction while Heero and I were led down a very shiny and pretty damn new looking hallway and ushered into a set of rooms.

There were clothes that there we were welcome to use, and there was plenty of time for a bath, our escort told us, and I realized what a mess Heero and I still looked. Heero at least had the dignity of his spandex, but me? Clothes were on my list.

We were told to call if we needed anything and then we were left alone.

It was like staying at one of Quatre's houses. What a complete trip. Even on a secret satellite housing illegal mobile suits, the guy still made sure all the niceties were followed.

The rich are different from us.

Heero hadn't said a word the whole time. He had just followed along, like a faithful..

Oh no. Not going there again.

He was standing in the center of the room, his eyes traveling over the walls and fixtures, scanning- I realized.

"All okay?" I asked.

"Yes." The soldier turned and looked at me. "You are still not at peak efficiency yet. You need more rest."

Then the soldier changed, and my Heero looked chagrined. "You don't look like you've slept for days." The concern and worry in his eyes was familiar, his voice faintly chiding...

I went to him without thinking, and put my arms around him, pulling him close. "I missed you," I told him. "I couldn't sleep without you there. I kept looking for you and we couldn't find anything..."

"Oh Duo...I'm sorry. It must have been awful for you." His arms tightened.

"Worse for you. Quatre said you were in pain, and I knew you were in danger, and then J sent us a tape of you screaming..." I didn't realize that I was crying until I felt his fingers on my face.

"I'm here," I heard him sigh. "Even if I'm... damaged now."

"Do you think that matters to me?" I held onto him tighter. "I told you that we'd fix you and we will."

"And if we can't?" A whisper.

"Then we learn to live with it- just like we have with all the other stuff the bastards dumped on us."

We held on tightly to each other for a long time, before Heero pulled away and reminded me that we needed to shower and change before Quatre arrived.

I couldn't let go of him. I guess somewhere it had finally sunk in, now that I had the time, that Heero was back with me. So I made him get into the shower with me. He knew that I needed him close and he was careful to stay in an arms reach of me. We showered, dried off, found some clean clothes and then settled on the bed. Heero brushed my hair for me and braided it.

All of the little things that I had missed. It was so good to have him back with me, to forget for a little while all the crap we'd be dealing with in a few hours.

The phone rang while Heero was reaching the end of my braid. It was Trowa calling to tell us that Quatre would be there in a few more hours, advising us to sleep some if we could.

So, we curled up together on the bed, and I put my head on his chest so that I could hear his heart beat as I slept.

It was the last little bit of peace we enjoyed for a long time.

The phone rang a few hours later, waking us up. Quatre and Wufei had arrived and were waiting for us.


	9. Winner Faction

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! Sorry for all the updating- I have the week off, and so I have some time to write…

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Heero and I walked down the hallway behind the guy Quatre had sent to fetch us. My sixth sense was beginning to ring alarm bells that had something to do with Heero and what was going to happen next, but heck if I could figure it out.

I really should've though.

Heero had been doubtful of me and mistrustful of Trowa. Out of the five of us there was only one who had out and out fought against us of his own free will. Who had faced Heero on a battlefield.

We were lucky that Heero didn't simply leap on Fei and tear his throat out when we walked into the room.

I don't think it helped matters any that Fei was still wearing his Preventers uniform. I doubt Heero had any fondness for that particular outfit either.

As it was, when we walked in the room and Fei turned to greet us, I at least caught the growl starting in Heero's throat. I flung an arm around his waist, holding on as tight as I could as he bared his teeth at a suddenly pale Fei.

"Heero! 01! Stop it!" I hissed in his ear. He froze at the sound of my voice, but his body was still tense under my hands.

"05's possible betrayal is factored at 98 percent," Heero's voice was not the cold Perfect Soldier I expected, but a snarl, as if a wolf had developed a voice. "I do not trust him!"

"Fei, step back," I told the pale man in front of me. As I said Fei's name, Heero's growl intensified.

Crap.

I backed out of the room, pulling Heero with me. I pushed him against the wall, next to the door.

"We need Chang," I said into his ear. "He and Winner have the information we need. Promise me you will not attack him?"

"Yes," his voice still held that rough edge. "I will not attack Chang until you give me permission."

Well, that was better than 'no'.

"Or Winner." I said and wondered where Quatre fell on the scale.

"Or Winner," he agreed.

I let Heero go and stepped back into the room, Heero right behind me. Wufei had moved to the far side of the room and was talking in a low voice with Trowa. They looked our way, and I saw the looks that they gave Heero.

Not good. I started to feel uncomfortable. My sixth sense was still ringing.

"Over here," Quatre waved us over to the sofa he was perched on. I elected to sit across from him and once again, Heero dropped down at my feet. That habit was seriously disturbing me, but since I guessed it would make it easier to tackle him, I let it go.

Trowa and Wufei joined us. Trowa sat down beside Quatre, and Wufei stayed slightly to the side, standing. I guess he didn't feel comfortable sitting for some reason.

"Heero," Quatre started. "Tell us what happened?"

Heero looked to me. Uh...

"Report, 01." I told him.

"I was moved out of the hospital by a group of Preventers agents. I recognized some of them. Noin. Merquise. They gave me a sedative and when I awoke I was on the satellite that 02 discovered me on. The doctors were there. They experimented on me with different substances. I do not know all the types. The result was to create a super-soldier who would not question orders. They were not pleased with the results. I managed to break free and destroyed the lab in the process. The doctors fled, leaving me on the satellite."

Well, that was brief. I had the feeling that Heero was leaving a lot out for some reason.

"Why were they not pleased with the results?" Quatre questioned.

"I would not obey orders."

"Why not?"

Heero showed his teeth. It was not a smile. "I did not like their orders."

"So what did you find out?" I asked, deciding that a change of subject was in order.

"Well, the Preventers are hip deep in the New World Order, for starters." Quatre said. I saw Heero's head turn in Wufei's direction and thought it prudent to rest my hand on his shoulder.

"Une created a special division- headed by Zechs and Noin, filled with people hand-picked by them. This division's main purpose was apparently heading security for the NWO council members. However, that is only a small part of their job."

"What's the rest of it?"

"Information gathering- spying to be more precise. Blackmailing. All in the name of strengthening the NWO, forcing other nations to join. Apparently Dorothy Catalonia is also involved as well. She is acting as Relena's 'ambassador' with several of these nations."

In other words, she was the one delivering the ultimatums. Bet she enjoyed that.

"Does Relena advocate these methods?" I couldn't imagine the princess agreeing to these tactics.

"From what Une said, she not only knows about it- but it was her idea to free the doctors." Quatre shook his head. "Une kept insisting that the whole purpose of NWO was a good one. They wanted to being peace to the world."

"She wasn't intending to actually use force, merely the threat of it, according to Une." Wufei added. "However, the real mover appears to be Merquise. Who knows what Relena really feels? He could be speaking for her."

"So where do the doctors fit in?"

"O was less than helpful, but apparently they are the weapons division of this little enterprise." Quatre sighed. "O is here. I didn't want to leave him behind on Earth. All of my bases are here in space."

Bases? Quatre had more than one of these?

I pushed that discomforting thought away. All it did was intensify my 'bad' feeling.

"You said you have an idea of where J is?"

"We traced that call- he's in a high security base on Earth." Quatre shrugged. "We can't do anything at the moment though. We have to wait for them to make a move."

What? Why? We knew what they were up to! Then again-

"Well G is still out there..." I said softly.

"I thought G was dead." Wufei frowned as he looked at Heero.

"I did not eliminate G." Heero's voice was rough.

"But J said- and O..." Trowa protested.

"And they've been so truthful before," I snapped. That stopped Trowa, but not Wufei.

"How can we trust Heero?" He protested. "He's been in their care- he's obviously unbalanced. How do you know he's telling the truth? How does he?"

Wufei is not the king of tact. Anyone else would've waited until the subject of said discussion was out of the room at least.

Jerk.

Heero was tense, a coiled spring under my hand, but he did not leap at Fei as I expected him to. Maybe his promise was holding him in check? I looked down and caught the fleeting pain that flashed on his face, followed by the neutrality of the soldier.

"How do you know O and J are?" I retaliated. "I trust Heero." Heero gave me a brief grateful look.

"Of course you do," Wufei took in a deep breath. "But he's not the same man that we knew."

"Of course not," I interrupted him, trying to stay calm. "Or you wouldn't dare talk about him like he wasn't here."

That made Fei look ashamed for a moment. But it didn't stop him.

"Duo- you can't close your eyes to this. It's obvious to us, and would be to you if you stopped to think about it."

"To us?" I felt my temper hit the boiling point. I looked over at Quatre.

How long had they spent in his company? Had they asked me to report? This dismissal of Heero infuriated me.

"Heero is exhibiting irrational behavior Duo." Quatre said calmly. "You have to admit it. It would be safer to keep him elsewhere until we finish."

Keep him? I knew what that little phrase meant. Oh no.

I was not happy with 'bases'. I was not happy with 'waiting'. And I was not happy with 'keeping'.

I got to my feet. Heero moved when I did, standing behind me.

"Keep him? He's Heero. Not some fucking animal. You want to keep him out of this? Fine. I will take Heero with me and _keep him_ out of this. You can let us know when it's over." I was out of the room a moment later, Heero a step behind me.

I walked quickly down to the docking bays. I didn't need Quatre's permission to take a shuttle and go home. I'd take my chances on Earth or L2. Fuck this.

Yeah, not the most rational of me, I know. But their lack of loyalty distressed me. The sit back and wait attitude did too. Just wait for NWO to move?

We reached a docking bay and I stopped in amazement when I saw what it contained.

Scythe.

Here? How? I saw the blast marks on the leg. It was the one that White Dog had built for me. How the hell had Quatre gotten it?

Why in hell did he have Scythe?

Heero grabbed me and pulled me along with him towards the suit.

"Heero?" I managed.

"Directive 02DS." The soldier replied.

Directive? Who would have..? Oh no...

A few of Quatre's people tried to get in our way. Heero sent them flying. We were in Scythe's cockpit before I could protest.

"We can't..."

"We can not leave Deathscythe Hell, version 2 in the hands of the Winner faction. It is needed."

Winner faction?

Heero pushed me into the seat, squishing in beside me. "Take us to..." and he rattled off a series of coordinates.

"Whose directive is this?"

"G. He directs you under SPER0202."

I knew that code. During the war it that was the code that meant G had information for me.

My stupid precog chose that moment to kick in again. It liked the idea of going to G.

What the hell. Going to G was better than nothing.

Sides, it would give me the opportunity to slice some bits off of him in peace until he fixed Heero.

I grinned and fired up Scythe's engines.


	10. Going to meet G

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

Many hugs to everyone that reviewed. Just a quick note- if you have a specific question for me- email it please! Ffnet does not always email all the reviews for some reason, or they show up late… it's weird. I'm not sure if I'm the only one with this problem, but it does seem to happen frequently. So if you have a question and want an answer- email me. I promise I'll answer- if I can.

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I was surprised that Quatre didn't send someone after us. It's not like he could've missed the fact we took off with the Gundam, after all.

I had a feeling he'd bugged the new Scythe somehow, but I wasn't sure that I didn't want him knowing where we were. Once I cooled down a bit I realized that I had kind of taken off without thinking things through all the way.

Typical.

Heero was squished behind me in the seat, the only place he could really fit in Scythe's cabin. I had managed to strap us both in, but having a squirming pilot on his lap could not have been fun. Or maybe it was- who knows? He showed no sign of discomfort as I piloted Scythe in stealth mode towards the coordinates he'd told me. The soldier was in charge.

He was silent for a long while, and I didn't really want to talk. I needed some time. I immersed myself in the familiarity of piloting my old friend. It was comforting, in an obscure way.

"We should be arriving soon," Heero said finally. "Once we reach the coordinates hold position and await a transmission."

Curiouser and curioser. I looked at him over my shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of his expression. His head was turned away from me, towards the coordinate grid.

"From G?"

"Yes."

"Do you trust G?"

"No."

"Then why are we going where he wants us?" I needed a reason. I was feeling kind of stupid, not looking before I leaped. I had been angry, and Heero had given me an escape route.

Who was to say that we wouldn't end up in a trash compactor?

"It is logical." Oookay. Not helping.

"Please explain it to me? How does going to see G make sense? He was one of the ones experimenting on you!"

"G determined as they were working on my alterations that the NWO was an imperfect organization. His job was to program me to be obedient to the will of the Peacecrafts. He had considerable trouble with my programming, encountering resistance. He decided to work with the resistance as it would frustrate the NWO's plans."

"So what did he do?"

"He gave me a choice." Heero tilted his head forward a bit and looked at me, the soldier giving way to the animal for a brief flash. "I had to obey, but I could choose the one that I followed. Once I determined your loyalty, I chose you. As G knew I would."

I remembered what J had said: 'think of a trained guard dog. They are aggressive, destructive and smart, yet they will heed their master'- and felt sick. Really sick.

Heero tugged on my braid. "Stop it Duo." He half-smiled, and it was my Heero's smile. "Better you than someone else, and G lightened the program considerably to even get me to accept it. Be glad you have it, or Fei and Trowa would be dead."

"I don't like it."

"I knew you wouldn't. All the better. You won't misuse it either. I trust you. Don't worry."

Might as well tell me to cut off my braid. I sighed and pushed that topic to the side. Later. I'll deal with it later.

There was going to be quite a lot of stuff to deal with later at this point...

"So, G then faked his death?"

"Yes, he decided that the best thing to do would be to escape and head for space. He had been making his own plans, even as Quatre apparently has been, in case another incident like the Mariamaia one appeared."

I sighed. I had hoped after the Mariamaia incident that the Sphere would've learned something. Instead all it had done was make people more paranoid of war, not less, so much so that they were preparing for a possibility.

And that preparation was going to lead to another war...

"So, NWO wants to force people to join to prevent a war, so then Quatre is preparing to help the colonies resist being forced?"

"Quatre seems to be preparing to stop them from forcing anyone to join." Heero frowned. "That likelihood is 70 probable. If it was a 100, then we could have left Scythe in his hands." The solider was back.

"Why?"

"G wanted Scythe in the hands of someone with the same motives that he has. G does not see how forcing people to capitulate will lead to a true peace. He feels that the Vice-Minister is being influenced by her family and counselors."

"How?" Relena was a pretty strong-willed girl.

"He is not sure. Programming is suspected."

Who would be programming Relena?

My head was starting to hurt. Why did this all have to be so complicated? Couldn't I just go blow something up somewhere and be done with it?

"We have reached the coordinates."

I stopped Scythe. We were in the middle of space. There was nothing around us. No colonies, no satellites, nothing. So why would G bring us here? I opened the channels, waiting for an incoming signal.

It didn't take long.

"There you are. A bit late." G's not-much-missed face popped up on one of my screens.

"I didn't know we had a date." I snapped.

"Ah Duo, Duo, there is much you don't know. I trust Heero has filled you in?"

"A little."

"Good. Good. We'll finish your briefing once you're on board."

"On board what?" None of my instruments indicated a ship in the area.

The space in front of Scythe suddenly shimmered.

A gigantic spaceship appeared out of nowhere. Considering that was Scythe's trick, it shouldn't have shocked me as much as it did.

"What? How?" How the hell had G managed to get a ship like that so quickly?

"Hey kiddo!" Another familiar voice cut across the airwaves. "Ready to come on board?"

Howard?


	11. Heero's mindDuo's anger

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

**WARNINGS**: POV switch. Heero starts this chapter. I know, I know… but we kinda needed to show what's going on inside his head. On that one- the **bold**, _italic_ and _**bold italic**_ are all the different voices in his head. Halfway through, we go back to Duo. Oh, and a language warning as well on this one.

Many apologies….

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**_My master was agitated. I could smell it. Something was upsetting him._**

I struggled to maintain my balance. Couldn't flip out on Duo again. We were about to confront G. I needed to be ready in case he needed me.

It was getting easier to control myself, and that was scaring me. I was becoming used to my programming. I couldn't waste time fighting it, not now... but if it got too settled in...

**_He won't leave me! I won't let him! _**

_I can't tie him to me when I'm like this... _

Howard was waiting for us in the docking bay. I followed Duo down to the floor. Danger levels were low; it was safe to let him go first.

Howard was not a threat. He has always been loyal to Duo and the Gundams. We could trust him. I stood back and let Duo accept Howard's hug of welcome.

**_Mine! I don't like in when others touch him!_ **

_It's only Howard. Howard is like a father to Duo. It's okay. _

"What are you doing here?" Duo asked him.

"G needed someone who knew how to fly his toy. Since I built it for him, I'm here." Howard led us off at a brisk pace.

"You built it for him?"

"Sure, after the first war. You know..."

"Just in case." Duo sounded mad.

**_Did I do something?_ **

_He's not mad at me. _

**Duo should have figured all this out much sooner. He has high intelligence levels. After the war he worked for the doctors as they prepared just in case there was another conflict. He should not have been surprised that there were other plans in place and that other people were doing the same thing.**

_Duo believes in people. He trusts them. I hope it's not misplaced here. _

_**No one will hurt him. I will not let them!**_

"The doc is waiting for you. The attack is going to begin soon." Howard tells us.

"What attack?" We followed Howard onto a lift. The doors slid closed and we began a smooth upward ascent.

"NWO is planning on attacking the nations that didn't join. We're thinking that it will happen in about 8 hours. That's when Relena is holding a news conference in front of the Sphere's leaders."

**A prime moment to launch an attack. Psychologically sound. Optimal results. Immediate capitulation. **

"Crap. I assume G has a plan?" The lift stopped and Howard ushered us into a small room.

G was there, his back to us, studying view screens.

**_Danger! Threat! KILL HIM! _**

**That is not logical. There is only a 10 chance of G betraying us. He needs us.**

_If he tries to do anything to Duo, he's dead. _

"Of course I do. But I'm afraid I'll need your help. Come and sit down."

Duo was tense beside me.

**50 chance that Duo will attack the doctor. **

**_Good! Let's hurt him!_ **

Duo merely strode across the room, frowning, sinking into the chair G pointed out. I sat at his feet, letting my head rest on his knee.

**_G will have to go through me to hurt him._ **

_Watch him carefully. _

"My help?" Duo repeated.

"NWO plans to launch those mobile dolls of theirs in order to force the countries to capitulate. They only have one base on Earth."

"The one Dr. J is in."

"Yes. They've had to be careful. All of the colonies have joined, and they might have bases in space, but I don't think any attacks will be launched up here."

**Calculating. **

"It is not logical." I said. "If there are bases near the colonies they are for the reinforcements."

"I believe so too." G nodded.

"And if you are both wrong and an attack is launched from space?" Duo's leg was tight with tension under my cheek.

**_G is distressing master... kill him..._ **

_No- Duo is worried about the colonies. About L2. It's not G. _

"Then this ship will be in position to stop them. Or at least slow them down a little."

"You want me to take on an entire army of mobile dolls and you think I'm going to come out in one piece?"

**_I'm going too! And you will!_ **

"Of course you are." G smirked as he looked at me. I showed him my teeth. "Heero is going with you. We have a gundam for him here- one designed with his new abilities in mind."

Duo touched my head gently and I turned to look at him.

"Heero? What is our success rate?"

I had already done the calculations. G had left something out.

"G has not explained all the parameters. Scythe will need to be hooked up to the new Zero system. If we do that then we have an 80 chance of success."

I saw Duo's eyes widen with panic.

_It hurt him last time. Nearly destroyed him... _

**The system has been updated. There is only a slim chance he'll be hurt. And I will be there with him this time.**

_I will protect him. _

_**No one will hurt him!**_

"Yes Duo." G nodded. "I'm sorry, but otherwise you won't have a chance against that many mobile dolls. We're talking about several armies worth. The Zero system allowed you to integrate fully with the suit. You'll need it."

"I've fought mobile dolls without it before!"

"Not this many." I told him. "If you do not, our possible success rate drops to 30."

The look Duo gave me was not a happy one.

_I'm sorry beloved. _

_**Don't be mad at me!**_

"I'm still not sure this is a bad idea. So Relena takes over, so what?" Duo turned back to G.

"It's not Relena. According to J Relena is being controlled by this gentleman." G gestured to a screen over his head. On the screen J was talking to someone I recognized from when I was assigned guard duty over Relena.

"J is unsure if Duke Catalonia is also controlling Merquise."

"Catalonia? Not Dorothy's..."

"Uncle." Duo snarled.

"Fucking Machiavellian family. What are they up to?"

"I don't know. J might."

Duo sighed.

"Do you want the Catalonias to rule the sphere? Do you want to leave that poor girl under their control? As their puppet?"

Duo was frowning.

_He's never liked Relena. But I don't think it will stop him... _

**He will agree. **

"Fine. But if I survive this I'm going to come back and carve your heart out with a spoon!" He growled at G.

**_And I will help you, master!_ **

"And that will be after you fix Heero!"

G looked surprised. "Fix Heero? I can't fix Heero. He's not broken."

"WHAT!" Duo got to his feet, dislodging me. I crouched there waiting...

**_Order me to attack. Let me kill him for you! _**

**We cannot kill him yet. Duo needs him. **

_Damn it._

"Duo, sit down," I whisper to him, a hand on his leg. "It's okay. Stop. We'll deal with this later. We have a mission first."

Duo is vibrating under my fingers. G wisely edges towards the door.

"We'll talk about Heero later. Right now we are bringing the ship down onto the surface of the planet. Once there we'll be ready for you to get in the suits and get into position. We will call you when we're ready for you." G turned and fled the room, leaving us alone.

Duo slumped back into his chair.

_He is distressed. _

I turn on the floor so that I can face him.

**_My master._ **I rub my cheek along the inside of his thigh.

"Are you okay?"

"Just dandy," Duo frowned. "Why couldn't things be easy? Why do we keep getting dragged into this over and over? I should've just left the docs on that ship!"

"That's not how you are."

He sighs again. "I just hate this Heero. I really do. I hate that I'm sitting here getting ready to help one of the guys that fucked you over. Why should I?"

_My loyal Duo. _

"Because it's bigger than him." I get to my feet and climb into the chair with him, pulling him onto my lap, burying my face in his hair. "And you will always do what you need to do."

**_His smell. Mine... all mine..._ **

"But Zero... that scares me Heero. I didn't do well on it last time..."

"I will be with you."

"In another suit! What if I attack you?"

"You will not attack me."

**_Taste him… _**

"Mmm." Duo murmurs as I kiss him.

**We have time. **

_He needs this... I need this. Just in case this is the end for us. _

_**I want him. Now! **_

"Heero?" Duo manages after a moment. "We can't...ohh.."

"They won't need us for a while yet. We have time."

lllllllllllllllllllllllll

Heero was right. We had just enough time. Fortunately he had prodded me back into my clothes before Howard came to fetch us.

I never would've heard the end of that one.

Not that I cared, either. 80 chance of success was success in stopping the suits, not surviving. There was a good chance that one or both of us was not going to make it.

I didn't ask Heero for the odds.

Scythe was waiting. Heero had gone down to a different bay, apparently to get hooked up to his gundam.

G was waiting by Scythe's foot, a nasty looking syringe in his hands.

"You are not..."

"You need to be hooked into the neural net, just like last time. I think I've fixed the psychosomatic reaction- you shouldn't feel everything Scythe gets hit with."

Shouldn't. Well, that was reassuring.

Not.

"You should also be in more control this time. I modified the formula. Heero is also hooked in to the system and you are sharing it between your suits. You should be able to account and sense each other."

Well, it's not like there was a huge choice here. I accepted the injection.

"We are nearing the surface. Go in and start protocols. You are fully loaded and charged. We'll be dropping you off as near as we can get. Wait until I tell you to before you hook into Zero."

Yeah, like I was going to rush that.

"Good luck Duo. The world is depending on you."

Yeah, yeah, being Superman sucks sometimes. Just ask Heero.

I gave G my best grin.

Then I punched him. Hard.

He flew in the air and landed against the wall with a satisfying thump.

I grabbed the tether and rode up to Scythe's cockpit feeling just a teeny bit happier. Satisfied. Something.

He had that coming.

I ran the systems check in Scythe. Everything looked good. I tried to ignore the new little black box next to the chair. Fucking Zero system.

My comms unit beeped and I hit the button thinking that it would be Heero or Howard... or G if I hadn't broken his jaw.

"Hello Duo."

"Quatre?" I blinked at the screen. Was he going to come after me for stealing Scythe?

"I hope I've given you enough time to cool down," he smiled faintly. "Because there's a problem. My intelligence says that NWO is going to attack the countries..."

This sounded familiar.

"That didn't join during Relena's speech. The one she's about to give soon."

He blinked at me.

"Exactly. How did you..."

"We met up with some old friends. I'm on the planet. Our intelligence says that there's a base here..."

"The only NWO base there." Quatre nodded, "though we suspect that dolls are hidden elsewhere on the planet. Some in each country that haven't joined yet..."

"Shit. How many is that?"

"Relax Duo. I have people out there now, getting in place. The base and then the NWO HQ are the most important places. Do you have the base covered?"

"Heero and I do, yes."

"Then I can get all of the others. Once you've finished at the base, will you meet us at the HQ?"

I was used to Quatre being the war leader, but...

"Do you trust both of us there?"

Quatre met my eyes. "Yes. I messed up Duo. I should've trusted your judgment." He sighed and the 'fearless leader' pose dropped away. "I'm really sorry Duo. I should've trusted you. Its just things are so tense right now and this whole mess just dropped out of nowhere.. I only wanted to get Heero help..."

"G says he can't help him. He's stuck like... he is."

"We'll fix it then. We don't need his help." Quatre met my eyes. "But in the meantime, we need him like he is, right?"

"Right." I nodded, relieved. Some things were finally going right at last.

"Then we'll see you at HQ. Take care." And Quatre signed off.

I waited a minute and my comm unit went off again. Well, well, someone had been eavesdropping.

"You will follow Winner's direction." G glared at me, an icepack on his jaw.

He was going to have one hell of a bruise.

I grinned.

"I was planning on it."

"Excellent. Prepare for drop."

I moved Scythe out of his bay. We were above an ocean- our target some 50 miles to the west, according to my readouts. Scythe dropped off of the ship and I hovered waiting.

Wing joined me a moment later.

He didn't look exactly the same... but it was good to see him. I activated my comm unit.

"Heero?"

"I'm here. I monitored Winner's transmission."

"Acceptable?"

"Yes. Hook yourself into Zero now. Maintain radio silence. Stealth mode."

The screen went blank and Heero's gundam vanished a moment later. How the hell were we going to do this without hitting each other?

I engaged Scythe's stealth mode and flipped the switch to activate Zero.

That familiar sliding feeling started up immediately. Damn it, I thought as I tried to process the information Scythe was feeding me, it's faster! They tweaked it again!

_Duo. Relax. I'm here. Don't collide with me. _

I realized that Wing was on my right side, only a few meters away from Scythe. I made the needed adjustment automatically before realizing that the radio wasn't on. It couldn't be in stealth mode...

_How had I heard Heero?_

_Zero. I'm in the net with you, remember? No one can monitor our communications this way. Stay with me. _He added as I nearly jolted out of the system in shock. _Don't! Keep the system on. We're approaching fast. It looks like the dolls are being released. _

I looked at my monitors. Sure enough, a large blip had appeared on my radar. There were dozens of them. This was going to be quite a party.


	12. the End

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.

This is the END of Deliveryman 2! Thanks so much for reading!

WARNINGS: Language. Duo swears- a lot.

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The dolls and the base didn't know we were there. They were just heading out to join the forces already fighting in the holdout countries...

They never saw us coming.

The lead dolls blossomed into orange flowers of fire, raining petals of falling wreckage onto the base below, destroying buildings and igniting a burning hell around us. We blew through them like a wind, everywhere and nowhere at the same time, making the puppets dance on the end of our strings. Kin killed kin as the dolls frantically tried to target us, and ended up destroying each other instead. I felt the Shinigami raise his head from the dark recesses of my past and smile that old familiar smile.

I could feel Heero covering my back, always behind me to insure I was safe, watching me even as I watched him. Zero guided us both in unison, keeping us so busy with doll trajectories and our maneuvers that it was a miracle I was able to hang on to my sanity this time. What kept me sane - experience, Heero or just another tweak in the system - I'll never know.

The dolls tried to regroup, tried time and time again to figure out where we were, how they were being attacked, and failing over and over. Zero and I easily predicted their moves. There was no intelligence on the other end of these dolls, no creative intuition that could have discovered our ruse. No- these these were just machines.

_Heero! _

I turned, knowing he was in trouble, seeing the attack coming down from above, the dolls had finally decided that we were cloaked and were attempting to bodily crash into us in order to disable our shields and find us...

I knew he couldn't move in time. Zero presented me with an option and I took it.

I flipped off my stealth unit and the dolls changed trajectory.

_Duo! What the hell are you doing? _

_Giving them a target. Optimal choice. _

The dolls moved at me in masse and I felt Heero's desperation, Zero had plotted the best outcome for us this way- but it meant that I wouldn't make it.

_NO! **NO! **_Something snapped in Heero, I could feel it across the link in Zero.

_Heero? _

**_No one will take what is mine! _**

Zero whirled, confused, unsure, and Heero's suit popped into focus, plowing through the dolls, decimating them, faster than I thought that a suit could move.

Zero couldn't keep up with him.

The dolls didn't have a chance.

Dolls fell in reams before I finally shook off my shock and moved to cover him, Zero sputtering in the back of my mind. We tried to cover him, tried to predict his moves, and failed completely.

I couldn't keep up with him so I only took out the ones he missed in that destructive roll.

I worried that he would hit me by accident, but he never did. I was getting flashes over our Zero link- disturbing flashes that I didn't have time to worry about...

**_Enemies. Wanting to take what was mine. Hurt what was mine. _**

_I will not fail. _

**This is my mission. **

The dolls fell into pieces, torn, burned, destroyed...

And then there were none.

Heero stopped. The base lay in smoking ruins around us.

I flipped the comm on. "Heero? Heero?"

There was no answer.

I tried over our Zero link... _Heero? _

Confusion...His mind was disordered, a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions and I nearly lost myself as I saw up close and personal what I had been seeing on his face for days. Oh gods- I should've broken G's neck for this!

_HEERO! _I reached out the best I could. _I'm here... _

_Duo? _ A center in the storm.

His mind slowed down a bit, and I took in a deep breath.

_I'm right here. Are you okay? _

_No. But I'll make it to the end. What do we do now? _

_We go to the HQ. _

"Howard?" I flipped channels on the comm. "We're done here. Do you need us up there?"

"Nah kid," Howard replied after a moment. "The backup troops tried to go down, but we stopped them. The doc wants you two to go to the NWO HQ."

I entered the coordinates into Scythe's navsystem and sent them to Heero.

I maneuvered Scythe into the air, Wing behind me, and we once again engaged the stealth units.

_I wonder if J was on that base still? _

_I don't know _, Heero replied. _Insufficient data. _

_I hope he wasn't. I want to rip him to pieces... _

_Duo- _

_Don't defend him! _

_They can't fix me. You saw... I can't be fixed. _

Underneath I could feel his despair- the knowledge that I wouldn't want Heero this way, his worry that he would hurt me, drag me down...

It was an effort to yank back.

_Stop that! I won't leave. No matter what. You'll have to kill me first. _

Llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

When we arrived at the New World Order HQ, it was surrounded by Magunacs mobile suits. Trowa was out front waiting, with a squad from the Magunacs mobile infantry division. We decloaked and landed. I took a chance and popped open my cockpit to call out to Trowa.

"Did we miss the party?" I hollered at him.

"Just about." He smiled coldly and tilted his head back.

Heero and I disembarked from our gundams and I made my way over to Trowa. We saw Relena on the steps, head down, shaking. Noin had an arm around her shoulders.

"It was just as we thought. We interrupted the little announcement. O had surmised they were controlling her using a drug they had developed during the first Eve war- so I made sure she got an antidote right away." Trowa patted the tranq gun at his side and smiled.

"Guess her little speech didn't go as planned?"

"No- she got confused, and then an aide ran in with the news of your attack on the base." Trowa shrugged. "We had a little skirmish after that."

"Outcomes?"

"Relena was dosed- so was Noin. We already sent Abdul to check Une out. Dorothy and her uncle tried to run but we caught them."

"In custody?"

"Dead. They resisted." Trowa shook his head. "So did Zechs unfortunately- we tried not to hit him, but he ran right for Relena- tried to take her out."

"Who got him?"

Trowa nodded at Noin. "He's with the medics now."

"What's Quatre doing?"

"Suggesting to the representatives that control be given back to the regular government, that the NWO coalition be banned- and all members checked for signs of tampering."

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

We all met inside the base to get debriefed on all the events that had happened in our mini-war. Heero had requested I let him stay with the Gundams, for his own safety and that of the others. I told him it was ok, and when I arrived at the debriefing room, I don't know who was more relieved, me for not having to worry about what Heero might do to the others, or the others seeing that I had left Heero elsewhere. The debriefing was long and tedious. Dorothy and her uncle had been busy little bees. But they were definitely the ringleaders. Relena sat silently, tears coursing over her face, but it was Noin's expression that made me hurt for them. To be betrayed by those you trusted sucks- as I know only too well.

I told my part quickly- base blown up, no sign of J, all the dolls destroyed.

"So, that's two doctors gone," Quatre frowned.

"TWO?"

Wufei snarled. "Howard reported in that G escaped."

What! There was no way G could've escaped off that ship without some help!

"So, basically we have no signs of J and Howard let G get away!" I snapped. Howard and I were going to have a little talk later... I rounded on Quatre. "What's O's status?"

"Secured." Quatre told me.

I was a bit worried about that. I wasn't sure it was totally safe to let Quatre keep O- but then again I was fed up with the sphere at this moment in time. If Quatre wanted to set himself up as king I would bow gracefully as long as I was allowed to just take Heero and go off someplace and be left alone.

I sighed and headed towards the doorway, as a familiar nagging feeling hit me right between the eyes.

**HEERO! DANGER! **

Fuck! Not AGAIN!

I broke into a full sprint towards the hanger where the gundams were stored, swearing under my breath. I heard footsteps pounding along behind me- I didn't look back to see who followed.

I found Heero underneath Wing, stretched out, looking up at the suit above him. For a moment, relief flooded me. Then I got a good look at him. He was pale. His breathing was hitching...

"What did you do!" I demanded as I knelt down beside him looking for a wound... for something... damn it! His pulse was slowing down underneath my fingertips.

"Can't stay..." he told me. "Too dangerous- you saw!"

"What did you take?" I checked him quickly for wounds; Quatre was calling for medics behind me somewhere. I could hear the panic in his voice and was grateful for it... I was afraid the others would want him dead...

"I didn't take anything. I can shut myself down. Easily done. It doesn't hurt. Don't worry Duo..."

I leaned over him, ready to protest, to argue, to go with him if that's what he would let me do. My sixth sense shrilled once and then I collapsed on the floor as pain shot along my nerves. I heard screaming.

I think it was me.

"Duo?" Quatre's voice.

"Beloved?" I could feel Heero's hand on my cheek and oh it hurt! I screamed again. I couldn't help it.

"Pilot 02," J's disembodied voice boomed over the loudspeakers like some evil god. Why the fuck wasn't he dead? Where the hell was he? God damn were we ever going to get ahead of them? "Once 01 is dead, you will report to me at once for experimentation."

"I'd rather fucking die!" I screamed back.

"You won't," his voice was amused. "But I will make you wish you had." The pain increased and every inch of my skin burned with agony. "You will report in, or this pain will never go away... every moment from now on will be nothing but pain..."

"STOP IT!" That was Heero. He sounded a bit stronger than he had a moment ago.

"You stopped your self destruction process 01? Why?"

"Stop it!"

The agony ceased and I took in a gasping breath.

"Why?" J sounded amused... I was just happy the pain had stopped.

"Duo must be protected."

"And who will do that if you die?"

I opened my eyes. Heero was breathing quickly. But he was sitting up, less pale now... And I saw J's plan.

Damn fucking bastard. But if he got Heero to live, I would have to let him live as well.

"If you die 01, then 02 is fair game for us. We've used him before."

"And if I live?"

"Then he's yours."

"Why are you doing this?" He demanded, and I knew that Heero had seen J's reason as well.

"Many reasons. Most you wouldn't believe. But what is the answer, 01?"

"I need you Heero," I managed. "Please. I don't care. We can live away from everyone else. Anywhere. But I need you."

Heero's hand brushed my cheek again. "All right."

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

"So, you don't miss the delivery business?" Trowa asked, eyebrow arching upwards, Quatre leaning lazily over his shoulder. He called us every week or so- just to check up. Wufei called us every three days exactly, and some of our other friends checked in at regular intervals. Phone calls were all we were allowing now. Heero wasn't dangerous, but we both felt we needed some time.

"Not in the slightest." I smiled at them over the link. "We're good here. We have everything we need- and I thank you for that."

Quatre shrugged. Surprisingly, he was back at WEI, having disbanded his army and opened up his satellites for inspections. He had dismissed all of his help as just a 'concerned former war vet'. It made for a good story and he got out of being entangled in all that government stuff.

Mind you, I still think he had some tucked away in other places- just in case. And I think the politicians knew it. Not that I cared- all the better if it made some of them rethink their attitudes. knowing that someone was willing to step in if they tried a takeover again.

"How is Heero doing?" Quatre asked.

"Better. I think he's more centered now that he's accepted the programming. He still worries, but it's all okay."

"We haven't found any sign of the doctors." Quatre frowned.

"I know it. We won't either." I grinned. "Still have O?"

"Yes. He's safely secured," Quatre assured me. "Don't worry."

After assuring them both one more time that Heero and I were fine, I hung up the phone and sighed. Heero was outside, sitting on the porch steps, watching a bird build a nest. I sat down beside him and put my head on his shoulder.

"You all right?" He asked me.

"Fine."

"How are the others?"

"Just fine. Everything's good."

We sat silently for a while, watching the bird carry tiny twigs back and forth, constructing her delicate house.

"Duo..." Heero's voice was a sigh.

I knew what was coming. We'd had this same discussion several times.

"Heero, all I want is you. I don't miss my business, I don't miss the city. This is paradise here with you. I love you and I'm happy."

He kissed the top of my head. "Me too."

The End!


End file.
